Data centers united a fractured political landscape
Orner argues that opposition to data centers crosses political and geographic lines. This is public testimony, not a Spokane2046.com finding about public opinion.
“There's an upside to this issue. It has united a fractured political landscape. Republicans, independents, Democrats, both rural and urban, overwhelmingly do not want data centers in their communities.”
Clip transcript
Automatic captions, formatted for reading.
Melanie Perry, Margaret O'Connell, and Craig Volising. Hello. My name is Robert Orner. And uh given the quick time, I'm going to kind of move right along here. First off, I'd like to say there's an upside to this issue. It has united a fractured political landscape. Republicans, independents, Democrats, both rural and urban, overwhelmingly do not want data centers in their communities. Notably across the nation, communities are collectively saying no to data centers and winning. Even Texas under Greg Abbott reluctantly put a stop to potential data centers as the power grid was set to collapse with huge energy demands that data centers require. If the Spokane data center project was put on for uh ballot for consideration by our community, my perception is it would be overwhelmingly defeated. As well, the concept of providing substantial tax breaks to private entities using Spokane funded infrastructure, water, and energy is quite frankly maddening. It's an act of lunacy in my humble